In this episode of EPN TV, John talks about a major initiative undertaken by eBay Marketplaces to provide buyers with an even more compelling experience.
While eBay has traditionally provided flexibility around seller listing requirements, we saw an opportunity to improve by layering additional structured data on top of this free-form listing data. By shifting toward cataloging items as products rather than as individual listings:

Search results are more relevant

Items are easier to find and compare

Product reviews can be better collected and shared

Deals are more obvious

In fact, early results have shown conversion rate improvements, which should translate into increased sales and commissions for you.

Because more than 80% of the items sold on eBay are new, the ability to differentiate among duplicate items has become increasingly important. For example, it would be helpful for buyers to know that multiple iPhone 6 listings are essentially selling the same product, so they can more easily find the item they want, at the best price.

Another way that this initiative should enable you to provide an improved buyer experience is that you’ll be able to deliver more pertinent and focused landing pages. This is possible because while a link that leads to an eBay listing page may expire, a link to an eBay product page could live in perpetuity. You’ll be better equipped to compare products across eBay and compared to other merchants, so you can provide your visitors with the most relevant items at the best prices.

This is a major evolution in the way that eBay handles data, and the ecommerce experience that we are able to provide. If you have any questions about this topic, please let us know in the comments below. We’ll continue to provide updates on new milestones in this endeavor.